NEW ZEALAND

Photo by: stevenjfrancis

COUNTRY OVERVIEW

LOCATION AND SIZE.

New Zealand is an archipelago (group of islands) located in Oceania,
southeast of Australia. The 2 main islands are North Island (Te Ika a
Maui) and South Island (Pounamu), with some near on-shore islands and
smaller outlying islands including Chatham Islands, Kermadec Islands,
and Auckland Islands. Its total land area is 268,670 square kilometers
(103,733 square miles), making it about the size of the state of
Colorado, with a coastline of 15,134 kilometers (9,404 miles). The
capital, Wellington, is located at the south end of North Island.

POPULATION.

The population of New Zealand was estimated at 3,862,000 in mid-2000, an
increase of 12.4 percent from the 1996 census population of 3,434,950.
Between the censuses of 1991 and 1996, New Zealand had the highest rate
of growth in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD), partly resulting from high levels of
immigration
, but also as a result of a relatively young population. In 2000 the
birth rate stood at 15.3 per 1,000 population while the death rate was
7.8 per 1,000 population. With a projected annual population growth rate
of about 1 percent between 1996 and 2010, the population is expected to
reach 4,207,000 by 2010.

In most years, New Zealand has a net migration loss of New Zealand
citizens who move to Australia, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere, so
one of the objectives of its recent immigration policy (1987) is to
offset this loss with new migrants, preferrably those with skills and
investment capital. While migrants from the United Kingdom continued to
arrive as they had throughout the 20th century, a significant new
migration stream came from Asia especially from China, Taiwan, Hong
Kong, and Korea. These new populations, together with Pacific peoples
who arrived in earlier decades, have resulted in an increasingly
multicultural society. In 1996 about 72 percent of the population
considered themselves of European ethnicity, down from about 81 percent
10 years earlier. The indigenous Maori made up nearly 15 percent of the
population, Pacific people 6 percent, and Asians about 5 percent. The
Asian population had increased the most rapidly, from only 1.5 percent
10 years earlier.

By most standards, New Zealand is sparsely populated, with an average of
only 13 persons per square kilometer. This population is unevenly
distributed, with three-quarters on North Island, and one-third in the
largest city, Auckland. Over the years, Auckland has grown faster than
the rest of the country, being the center of much manufacturing and,
more recently, service industries. More than half of all migrants have
settled in Auckland, and of new migrants from the Pacific and Asia,
about two-thirds have settled there.

FORESTRY.

Products based on the forestry industry, including logs, processed wood,
wood pulp, and paper, make up just over 10 percent of exports by value.
In the past, logging has taken place in the indigenous forests of New
Zealand, but the depletion of these forests and the strong political
support for their conservation have resulted in an end to this practice.
The timber industry is
now centered on the exotic forests, mainly of pine, first planted
during the depression of the 1930s, but much expanded from the 1970s
onwards. The original planting was done by the state, but in recent
years private companies have undertaken nearly all new planting. The
largest forests are in the center of North Island, but smaller
plantations are found in various parts of the country. The main
destinations for forestry products are Australia, Japan, Korea, and the
United States, and while a great deal of processing takes place in New
Zealand, there is also a large trade in unprocessed logs.

FISHING.

New Zealand has an
Exclusive Economic Zone
(EEZ) of 1.3 million square nautical miles, an area about 15 times its
land mass (the EEZ extends 200 miles from the coast and is the area in
which a country has rights to economic resources such as fish). However,
in much of this area the waters are extremely deep and not suitable for
many of the commercially significant fish species. Nevertheless, fishing
is still an important industry accounting for about 5 percent of
exports, as well as supplying the domestic market. Each year the
government assesses the maximum sustainable yields of each major species
and sets a quota which is divided up between those who hold quota
rights. The fishing fleet is made up of foreign-based boats as well as
those based in New Zealand, which process their catch within the
country. The indigenous Maori have some traditional fishing rights which
are separate from the quota system, but in recent years Maori
corporations have also become important in the commercial industry,
having bought a company which owns about one-third of the fishing quota.
A growing part of the fishing industry more generally is aquaculture,
especially the cultivation of salmon, green-shell mussels, and Pacific
oysters.

INDUSTRY

MINING.

There is a diverse range of minerals found in New Zealand, although
minerals make up only about 3 percent of exports (not counting the
export of aluminum; see below). Gold has been mined since the 19th
century and there is a small but steady production, as well as of
silver, which is usually associated with gold. The highest value mineral
production is of iron and steel, processed from black ironsands on the
west coast of North Island. A nearby smelter provides iron and steel for
the domestic market as well as for export. At the southern tip of South
Island is a large aluminum smelter which processes bauxite from
Queensland using power from nearby hydroelectric stations. The output
from this smelter accounted for 4.2 percent of exports in 1999.

MANUFACTURING.

Manufacturing employed the full time equivalent of 234,220 people in
1999, but this number has fluctuated considerably through time. The
processing of food products has been a significant part of manufacturing
throughout the 20th century, but it was after World War II that many
other types developed when the government placed high tariffs on most
imports. As part of the economic restructuring from 1984 onwards, that
process has been reversed with a rapid reduction in tariffs on most
imported manufactured goods. Often these imported manufactures come from
countries with low labor costs, and New Zealand manufacturing
enterprises are not able to compete on the basis of price. In some cases
New Zealand industries benefitted from lower input costs, although a
considerable amount of the raw materials originated in the country, and
there was little saving in the costs of production. This has resulted in
the decline of some sectors such as clothing and footwear and the
closure of the automotive assembly industry. The impacts on other
sectors have varied. The processing of food has a comparative advantage
related to the strength and diversity of agricultural production in New
Zealand and the fact that most food processing takes place near a source
of supply. Still there has been some restructuring of this sector
related to technological changes and to changing company structures
(e.g. the purchase of Watties Industries by the transnational company
Heinz). New Zealand has established a reputation for the production of
carpets, especially those made with high quality wool. Sectors supplying
the construction industry have done well during the 1990s under
conditions of rapid population growth, especially in the Auckland
region. With its ongoing successes in international yachting, New
Zealand is also establishing a reputation for the construction of both
hi-tech sailing yachts and luxury leisure boats.

SERVICES

TOURISM.

Consistent with a worldwide trend, tourism has been rapidly growing in
New Zealand. In 1970, there were less than 200,000 visitors each year to
New Zealand, but in 1999 this number surpassed 1.5 million. About half
of these can be considered as tourists, the other half being involved
with business, visiting friends and relatives and other activities
(although even these are likely to be "partly tourists").
The economic impacts of tourism are great, although they are difficult
to measure because tourism has an impact in many different economic
sectors. In 1995 it was estimated that tourism provided about 58,000
full-time equivalent jobs directly and 60,000 indirectly. In the same
year it brought in about NZ$4.3 billion (US$2.7 billion), more than all
dairy exports (the largest agricultural export sector).

Tourism in New Zealand is based on a variety of attractions. Most
generally the country is seen as having many natural assets, including
mountains, subtropical forests, beautiful beaches, active volcanoes,
geothermal pools, and geysers. Many also come to see the culture of
the indigenous Maori, which is expressed in many ways, including dance
and art. As international tourism has become more competitive and
diverse, tourists tend to demand a broad range of attractions, so
dynamic urban spaces may also be seen to be part of the total tourist
experience. Thus, for example, the waterfront village in Auckland built
to host New Zealand's defense of the America's Cup has
become an important part of the tourist infrastructure, as has the
spectacular new national museum in Wellington, Te Papa. Other forms of
tourism are also expanding.
Eco-tourists
come to watch whales and dolphins or simply to walk in the forests. New
Zealand has also become well known for adventure tourism with such
sports as bungee jumping, white water rafting, and hang-gliding.

FINANCIAL SERVICES.

Since the economic restructuring which started in 1984, there has been
considerable change in the financial sector. Most controls on the
financial sector were removed and there has been a rapid growth in the
money market since then, especially in relation to foreign exchange. New
financial institutions entered the country, and foreign investment in
the financial sector accelerated, as it did in other sectors. By 1999
there were 18 banks registered in New Zealand, only 1 of which was
wholly New Zealand owned. About 70 percent of this foreign ownership was
Australian. In 2001 the coalition government was set to introduce a
state-owned enterprise "People's Bank" which would
use the existing network of New Zealand Post outlets.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has several roles: 1) operating
monetary policy
to maintain price stability, 2) maintaining an efficient financial
system, and 3) meeting currency needs. Thus, despite the distancing of
the government from intervention in the financial system, the Reserve
Bank may intervene to stabilize the currency or influence interest rates
or the rate of
inflation
.

RETAIL.

Wholesale and
retail
trade accounted for about 16 percent of GDP in 1999. During the 1990s
the parts of the retail sector that grew most rapidly were food
retailing, accommodation, hotels, liquor, cafes, restaurants, and
takeaways. The 2 major factors in stimulating these sub-sectors were
increases in tourist numbers and changing lifestyles among New
Zealanders to favor more convenience foods, eating out, and diversity of
food choice. These are trends common to other industrial countries.
Other parts of the retail sector are also following international
trends. The move to suburban shopping malls has taken place for several
decades, but a relatively recent variation is the
"mega-mall" with huge barn-like stores, each catering to a
particular range of products (electronics, home furnishings, sports,
etc.). At the same time, huge cut-price department stores have undercut
traditional department stores. In New Zealand the most successful of
these has been The Warehouse whose success is similar to that of
Wal-Mart in the United States.

Another international trend experienced in New Zealand in the last 2
decades is international franchising. International brand names
introduced during that period include McDonald's, Burger King,
Pizza Hut, Starbucks, Planet Hollywood, Borders, and Body Shop. Of
course, the same trend has occurred for specific product lines.

User Contributions:

Thank You! This information was VERY helpful on a Final I have been given to complete for school. I was given a project on New Zealand and I could not have completed it without this information. Thank You so much!

I've read some information about Newzealand and make me like the country . What about immigration to the amazing country. Are there any conditions?
Please, let me know something about this idea . Thank you

Mweis 45

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